Unveiling diverse planet formation environments with millimeter imaging

行星是由年轻恒星周围的尘埃、气体和冰组成的。对行星盘的观测可以让我们深入了解行星性质变化的原因，以及像太阳系这样的地方最终是如何发展的。行星形成模型在很大程度上受到附近孤立的圆盘的影响，这些圆盘最容易被观测到。为了探索行星形成条件的变化，该项目将使用射电望远镜来分析环境中不太详细的圆盘结构和化学成分。研究者将培训一名研究生和一名本科生。作为哥伦比亚大学下一代工程项目的一部分，她还将指导代表性不足的公立高中学生。这个项目将在传统上难以描述的条件下对原行星盘进行敏感的观测研究，以便更好地了解行星形成的环境如何偏离那些研究得最好的系统。来自阿塔卡马大型毫米/亚毫米阵列的分子线和尘埃连续体图像将用于比较经历云/包膜物质后期落入的磁盘的化学特性与先前对孤立磁盘的观察结果，重新评估一个明显年轻的嵌入磁盘的进化分类，显示出行星-磁盘相互作用的证据。在高辐射的恒星形成区域寻找盘的亚结构，以评估行星-盘的相互作用是否以类似于附近低辐射区域的方式发生。研究人员还将利用Green Bank望远镜的宽视场CO测绘来描绘一个正在经历后期下降的圆盘上可用的大型气藏的质量和分布。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Planets are made from dust, gas, and ice in disks around young stars. Disk observations offer insight into why planet properties vary, and ultimately how places like the Solar System might develop. Planet formation models have been heavily shaped by the nearby, isolated disks that could be most readily observed. To explore variations in planet formation conditions, the program will use radio telescopes to analyze the structure and chemistry of disks in environments that have been characterized in less detail. The investigator will train a graduate and an undergraduate student. She will also mentor underrepresented public high school students as part of Columbia University's Engineering the Next Generation program.This program will conduct sensitive observational studies of protoplanetary disks under conditions that have traditionally been challenging to characterize in order to provide a better understanding of how the circumstances of planet formation might deviate from those of the best-studied systems. Molecular line and dust continuum images from the Atacama Large Millimeter/Sub-millimeter Array will be used to compare the chemical properties of disks undergoing late infall of cloud/envelope material to previous observations of isolated disks, re-evaluate the evolutionary classification of an apparently young, embedded disk exhibiting evidence of planet-disk interactions, and search for disk substructures in a highly irradiated star-forming region to assess whether planet-disk interactions occur in a manner similar to nearby, less-irradiated regions. The investigator will also use widefield CO mapping with the Green Bank Telescope to characterize the mass and distribution of the large-scale gas reservoir available to a disk undergoing late infall.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.